General Background
War Child works exclusively to improve the wellbeing of children living with violence and armed conflict. We empower children in everything we do. We work to unleash their inner strength through our creative and engaging approach. We deliver vital child protection, education, and psychosocial support. We are present in countries where violence and armed conflict are a fact of life. We work together with caregivers and communities - as well as other NGOs - to strengthen the Resilience and psychosocial wellbeing of children worldwide. We conduct research to demonstrate the effectiveness of all our interventions. We work to develop new intervention models that meet the changing needs of children and their communities including during humanitarian emergencies that compound the impact of conflict on children. We inspire our partners - on a global and local level - to adopt Evidence Based Interventions so that as many children as possible can be reached by the work we do. Everything we do has a lasting impact and helps children to build a better future and reach their full potential - both for themselves and their communities. Because no child should be part of war. Ever.

WC has worked with children, communities, state and non-state actors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Central Africa Republic (CAR) and Burundi for more than two decades. While we engage with governments, UN and other agencies at the national and local levels in these countries we also provide technical support, coaching and grant management services to some local organisations as local implementing partners. Through these relationships we learn from others and influence how others work.
War Child also works with various donor institutions in resourcing its programmes. The last few years have seen a general decline in the availability of funding to the humanitarian sector in various parts of the world including the Great Lakes Region in Africa and CAR due to various global political and economic trends. This has compromised on the magnitude of programmes that actors in this sector, including War Child, can deliver in response to the needs of children and their communities.

Purpose and Objective of the assignment
The overall objective of the assignment is to lead the development and updating of funding plans for each of the 3 countries including donor mapping and establishing/strengthening a network of sustainable funding relationships that generate resources for programme in collaboration with the Country Directors and key Programme Staff of the organisation. Beyond initiating such relationships in a manner that enables Country Management Teams to continue with the maintenance of such relationships, the assignment will also include provision of leadership in the development of generic programme concepts/frameworks in line with respective country strategies as part of prepositioning for funding opportunities. The assignment will also lead the development of project proposals in response to opportunities that arise during the course of its delivery.

Your challenge in each country:

DRC

Brief country specific background
North and South Kivu and Ituri Provinces, in the eastern region of DRC that borders Uganda and Rwanda, are the place of origin for most Congolese refugees and IDPs. These provinces have been a battleground for a myriad of armed groups and militias, fighting over the control of profitable natural resources and for political control. Despite military offensives conducted by the government’s armed forces (FARDC), with assistance from the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) and the Regional force Eastern African Community (EAC), a resurgence in activities by groups like the March 23 Movement (M23) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has resulted in widespread violations and abuses. These include physical attacks against civilians, killings, kidnappings for ransom, forced and child recruitment, sexual exploitation and abuse, looting, and gender-based violence (GBV), including rape. Moreover, the conflict contributes to the breakdown of community-based protection structures, including schools, places of worship or community spaces, meaning they no longer function as safe and protective spaces. Large influxes of population movements continue to overwhelm host communities, who often live in dire conditions. While host families have welcomed displaced families in their communities, they also remain exposed to vulnerabilities protection risks and have limited access to services and livelihoods.

On 16 June 2023, the world's top humanitarian aid officials launched an immediate scale-up of humanitarian operations in eastern DRC. The decision was made in accordance with the five evaluation criteria, including scale, complexity, urgency, capacity and risk of failure of the delivery. The latest report from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Emergency Directors Group mission report on eastern DRC highlighted that:

• The scale of suffering is immense and well beyond what humanitarians alone can address, especially in the East.
• The devastating impact of the protection crisis is unparalleled - shocking levels of sexual and gender-based-violence and harmful coping mechanisms of transactional sex for survival are reported against women and girls, especially in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces (35,000 cases of sexual violence in January-June 2023).
• DRC hosts the most IDPs in Africa (6.1M), has the highest caseload of food-insecure people worldwide (26M – one in four Congolese), and the highest number of verified grave violations against children worldwide (3,377 violations as of June 2023). These circumstances underscore the urgent need for continuous and unwavering attention to this crisis.

Beside this, the country is suffering from donor fatigue, and increased competition from other serious crises around the world. The war in Ukraine has impacted the direction of donor funding as money is redirected to the Ukraine response.

Additionally:
• Donors tend to increasingly focus on life saving humanitarian needs, to the detriment of more transition and development-oriented ones. There is a continued push for ‘value for money’ meaning that midsized INGOs need to remain competitive in their costs, overheads and beneficiary reach. There is also a push from almost all donors for programming alongside and through local partners. As a part of this, there is significant value being placed on capacity building of these local partners.
• Increasingly, ‘innovation’ funding is becoming available through trusts and foundations and smaller donors. Usually this is a multi-staged funding stream that focuses on providing good data and scaling up proven programming. Examples relevant to DRC include the French Fund for Innovation in Development and the Global Innovation Fund. These funds will finance small pilot projects or fund the scaling up of proven pilots. These funds tend to focus on strong empirical evidence, scalability beyond the initial context, and value for money. Often, they require a research partner.

Deliverables for the DRC
In this context, War Child UK and War Child Holland in DRC are working together to contribute to the humanitarian response in Noth Kivu and South Kivu, focusing on Child Protection, Mental Health Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), Education in Emergency (EiE) and Reintegration.

Deliverables are:

• Enhance, revitalize, and establish key donor and partner relationships with the following stakeholders:
a. Fonds Humanitaire (FH) in North Kivu (NK)
b. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (NK)
c. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) (NK)
d. European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) (SK)
e. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) (NK)
f. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
g. Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) USAID
h. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
i. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

and explore and/or initiate consortium relationships with:
j. World Vision
k. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
l. Plan International
m. International Rescue Committee (IRC)
n. Invisible children
o. Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
p. Doctors with Africa CUAMM (Italian)
q. CARE International
r. International Alert
s. And others to be decided.

You will collaborate closely with the Regional Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Manager to ensure a coordinated approach to stakeholder engagement.

• Support the Country office Business development capacity building: Strengthening the technical team capacity to develop quality proposals and bridges the relationships with major donors especially through solicited and unsolicited proposals, the consultant is expected to raise the bar of funding for the country through partnerships and consortia with other organisations well positioned to attract major donors’ interests and developing multi-year proposals with donors such as:
o BHA USAID
o European Union ECHO
o Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
o FCDO
o UN agencies.

CAR

Brief country specific background
A decade after the 2013 military-political crisis that led to the overthrow of the ruling party, the CAR has yet to enjoy the dividends of peace and sustainable development. Nearly three-quarters of Central Africans live below the poverty line in a country where abysmal maternal and infant mortality rates rub shoulders with illiteracy and early marriage. While the country was slowly recovering from the impact of COVID-19, the consequences of the war in Ukraine weighed heavily on the daily lives of a population exhausted by repeated armed clashes, accompanied by serious human rights violations.

Numerous efforts have been made at government level, particularly with regards to the presence and proliferation of armed groups. The most recent political agreement between the State and various armed groups was signed in February 2019. Its implementation has been uneven, leading to the demobilization and disarmament of some of the fourteen signatory groups, but with many combatants not eligible for the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process. Several splinter groups have been created since 2015, and armed groups still rule much of the country. Resurgences of violence and clashes have notably broken out following the presidential election in December 2020. Repeated conflicts and decades of underinvestment in socio-economic infrastructure and basic services have kept the CAR in a cycle of extreme fragility. Ranked among the poorest countries in the world, CAR currently lacks the structural and institutional fabric needed to cope with and overcome shocks.

The total population of CAR is estimated to be 6.1 million of which half a million people are still displaced, and 3 million will not have enough to eat by 2023. Serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law continue to occur. In 2023, 3.4 million people, or 56% of the population need humanitarian aid and protection, an increase of 10% compared to 2022.

In response to this long run crisis War Child has developed a three-year strategic plan which outlined strategic objectives in three provinces of CAR namely Bamingi-Bangoran, Ouham and Ouham-Pende to achieve an integrated programming where:

• Child protection. Children and young people (girls and boys) affected by new crises and violence receive prompt assistance. This strategic aim focuses on strengthening our delivery of prompt and quality support to children affected by new crises and violence and reaching them early on to respond to the most urgent child protection needs, in line with War Child’s Core Interventions, in particular on Child Protection.
• Psychological wellbeing. Children and young people (girls and boys) are better protected from violence and improve their psychosocial wellbeing. This strategic aim focuses on preventing violence, in particular the Worst Forms of Child Labour including association with an armed group and sexual exploitation, by targeting at-risk children through War Child’s Core Interventions on Child Protection, Education in Emergencies, Food Security and Livelihoods, and Youth Engagement.
• Re-integration. Children and young people (girls and boys) affected by violence receive reintegration support and are accepted by their families and communities. This strategic aim focuses on ensuring quality reintegration support, enabling children engaged in the Worst Forms of Child Labour (including association with an armed group and sexual exploitation) to engage in age appropriate and rewarding socio-economic and cultural activities.

Deliverables for the CAR
• Enhance, revitalize, and establish key donor and partner relationships with the following stakeholders:
o UNICEF
o UN OCHA
o European Union ECHO
o SIDA
and explore and/or initiate consortium relationships with:
o World Vision
o NRC
o Plan International
o IRC
o Invisible children
o CRS
o Doctors with Africa CUAMM (Italian)
o And others to be decided.

You will collaborate closely with the Regional Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Manager to ensure a coordinated approach to stakeholder engagement.

• Support Country office Funding strategy plan development: The CAR funding context appears to be becoming more and more challenging. The above-described country funding challenges lead to a very tough competition between a total of 211 NGOs (including 188 INGOs) working in CAR. These challenges contribute to an increase in our reliance on UN Agencies, especially on UNICEF as Lead Agency in the Child Protection sector. The sector of intervention for War Child (protection, education among others) seems to be less funded in the context of CAR, therefore a strategic resource mobilization should be conceived to overcome this challenge. The consultant will work with the leadership team to develop a new funding strategy.
• Support the Country office Business development capacity building: Strengthening the technical team capacity to develop quality proposals and bridges the relationships with major donors especially through solicited and unsolicited proposals, the consultant is expected to raise the bar of funding for the country through partnerships and consortia with other organisations well positioned to attract major donors’ interests and developing multi-year proposals with donors such as:
o BHA USAID
o European Union ECHO
o SIDA
o FCDO
o UN agencies.
Additionally, even though not a priority, localization is a critical priority for the government of CAR and as well as for the donors. The country office should be aligned to this direction in order to cope with the major requirements. The consultant will be expected to support community-based programming and local partnership strengthening in line with humanitarian development nexus programming and advise on appropriate models for a country like CAR.

Burundi

Brief country specific background
Burundi, a country entangled in the complexities of the Great Lakes regional conflict, has endured significant displacements and humanitarian challenges. In 2011, War Child took a stand, by establishing a physical office in Burundi, leading to substantial responses to refugees, internally displaced populations, and returnees. Despite facing funding constraints and limited focus on sustainability through partnership development, War Child’s commitment remained unwavering.

Over the past few decades, Burundi has experienced intermittent internal conflicts, leading to the displacement of thousands of people who sought refuge in Tanzania, Uganda, and the DRC. However, in recent years, the country has witnessed a decline in internal conflict. While the country still hosts over 350 thousand refugees from the region, it is no longer solely classified as a humanitarian setting on a global scale. Consequently, emergency response resources have dwindled, and the trend now leans toward long-term development funding, linked to Nexus Programming. This shifting context presents both challenges and opportunities for War Child to transform its presence in this evolving environment.
In line with the new War Child strategic presence framework and the evolving context in Burundi, War Child seizes an opportunity to shape a fresh approach to its presence in the country. After years of reflection, we have decided to shift our focus towards empowering local actors in line with the organization’s localization agenda. This decision ensures that Burundi remains an integral part of the Great Lakes regional response under any circumstances.

Our plan involves developing a network of local and international partners who will implement and establish a community of practice around various locally defined and Evidence-Based Interventions (EBIs) developed under War Child’s global strategy. Throughout this process, War Child's support will be provided remotely, drawing on expertise on our Regional Platform, other WCH countries, and the Global Shared Platform. By enhancing regional capacity and remotely supporting partner-led initiatives, we aim to facilitate the implementation of EBIs in Burundi and potentially in other locations as well when need arises.

Deliverables for Burundi
• Lead the effort in conducting a funding context analysis, involving the Country Director and Key Programme staff, to identify key donor priorities aligned with the War Child mandate. Prepare and submit an assessment report with a maximum of one page per donor.
• Develop a strategy that addresses the anticipated absence of War Child's physical presence in-country while providing remote support to partner organizations implementing Evidence-Based Interventions (EBIs). This strategy should outline how War Child can continue to assist partners in effective fundraising, including defining optional roles for War Child within this arrangement.
• Identify specific opportunities and lead the participatory preparation of funding proposals between War Child and partners.
• Lead the participatory development of at least three generic program or project concepts that can be prepositioned for funding, guided by the War Child scaling strategy, the content of the partnerships pillar, and the strategic direction of the Burundi transition process, which is being implemented concurrently by the country team with this assignment
• Provide coaching on fundraising to the partner organisations (especially local actors) that are engaged as part of the Burundi transition project.

Expected submissions by the consultant
1. Ahead of carrying out the assignment
• The prospective consultant will submit the following package to the attention of Apollo Leeman Becura – Operations Manager on apollo.leeman@warchild.nl and Kaggwa Misaeri – Logistics Coordinator on Kaggwa.misaeri@warchild.nl The deadline for submission is October 25th, 2023.
o Their Curriculum vitae demonstrating relevant experience.
o An example of a funded proposal, the preparation of which they led.
o An outline of how they will approach this assignment. Maximum 2 pages.
o Their expected monthly fees. (Note: Considering this is a full-time consultancy, War Child will be paying fees monthly in line with a monthly delivery plan to be agreed after selection of consultant).
2. After appointment of consultant.
• The selected consultant will submit the following in line with the monthly delivery plan to be agreed after appointment of consultant.
o Draft Monthly delivery plan to be approved by the Regional Representative in consultation with Country Directors.
o Country Specific deliverables as per the above country details.
o Monthly delivery reports ahead of payment of fees. Payment shall be based on delivery as per plan.
o A final Report on achievements per country in the final month of the assignment.

Timeframe
Delivery on this assignment is expected over a period of 10 months from the date of assignment.

Reporting
Regarding the administration of the consultancy contract and the allocation of time among countries, the consultant will report to the Africa Regional Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation Manager. The Consultant will however report to respective Country Directors regarding delivery on country specific deliverables.

Knowledge and Experience
o Relevant academic background in development/international cooperation and/or communication and marketing.
o Minimum of 10 years work experience in fundraising with institutional donors and grant and partnership management in the Africa region.
o Knowledge of and experience in humanitarian programmes in Africa. Experience in the Great Lakes region will be a strong added advantage.
o Knowledge of and demonstrated experience on partnerships with: European Commission, ECHO, FCDO, BMZ/GFFO, USG (including USAID) and UN agencies; additional experience with other donors such as foundations, SIDA, SDC and GAC is desirable.
o Familiarity with key actors in the Africa Region and demonstrated experience in developing, building and maintain strategic partnerships with these actors.
o Experience working with local organisations.
o Proven track record in design and writing of winning grant proposals responding to grant solicitations in a limited amount of time.
o Experience with programs in the thematic areas of child protection, education and MHPSS is an advantage.
o Understanding of fundraising and donor policy trends, humanitarian principles and established international standards in humanitarian settings for refugees and other marginalised populations, especially children and youth.
o Experience of resource mobilisation/fund-raising competency and capacity building including facilitating learning, coaching and supporting learning across multiple stakeholders.
Skills and Competencies
o Excellent writing and communication in English
o Proficiency in French. Including ability to facilitate technical discussions in French.
o Negotiation and influencing
o Relationship-building, diplomacy, and networking
o Problem solving
o Result oriented; able to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
o Flexibility
o Cultural and organizational sensitivity
o Proactive and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
o Strategic thinking
Additional
o Willing and able to travel in 3 countries of the assignment and in other countries as may be required.
o Commitment to the vision and goals of War Child, including understanding and adherence to the Child Safeguarding Policy, is essential.
Confirmation of assignment
o Confirmation of appointment will be made following an assessment of the submissions under part one of Expected submission above.
o Prospective consultants will be required to make a presentation of their approach to a War Child panel ahead of appointment.